


Dream on

by erynwen



Category: Star Trek (2009)
Genre: Community: jim_and_bones, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-05-24
Updated: 2011-05-24
Packaged: 2017-10-23 10:56:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,122
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/249518
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/erynwen/pseuds/erynwen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Fill for <a href="http://umbrellas-can.livejournal.com/profile"><img/></a><a href="http://umbrellas-can.livejournal.com/"><b>umbrellas_can</b></a>'s prompt: <i>Jim wakes to find he's the only man left. What's happened to the others? And is he really as alone as he thinks?</i> for the <a href="http://jim-and-bones.livejournal.com/410674.html"> Flash Fic Challenge</a> at <a href="http://jim-and-bones.livejournal.com/profile"><img/></a><a href="http://jim-and-bones.livejournal.com/"><b>jim_and_bones</b></a> (locked comm, join for the pretty).</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dream on

When Jim wakes up, he has one hell of a headache. Running a hand over his face, he tries to remember if he drank too much last night. Nope, he stayed sober, has to write an exam later today, didn’t want to wake up all hung over.

Only it feels like he had one of those nights with Bones again, when one of them would end up sleeping on the floor, while the other puked most of the night.  
At the thought of Bones, Jim turns his head, expecting to find the man in his bed, quietly snoring.  
He’s not, and Jim squints at the clock on his nightstand. The digital numbers read 06:00, and he groans. Too fucking early.

He tries to go back to sleep, but the headache is worse now, so he gets up and drags himself to the bathroom, on the look for something to make himself feel better. He lives with a doctor; the bathroom cabinet looks like the store room of a small hospital.

He opens the door cautiously, almost expecting to see Bones taking a shower or brushing his teeth, but the room is empty.  
Weird, Jim thinks, but shrugs it off, while popping little white pills into his mouth, swallowing dry and waiting for them to kick in.

Half an hour later, he’s still alone, his headache is not better, and he decides to take a run, get some fresh air. He dons his sweat pants and a shirt and debates with himself whether to leave a message to Bones, or not. He doesn’t, leaves the dorm and gets to the running path.

On his way he idly wonders why he doesn’t meet anyone. Sure, it’s still early, but normally at least a few cadets would already be up, on their way to breakfast, or a class.  
Again, he ignores the feeling, starts running, and doesn’t stop for the next half hour, until his headache actually is better, and his stomach starts rumbling.

He heads back to the dorm, wants to take a quick shower before breakfast. Bones is still gone. Maybe he’s got a shift at the hospital, Jim thinks, ignoring the fact that he knows Bones’ timetable by heart, knows when he has to work, when he has class.  
A small voice in his head is now insisting to find his friend. What if something happened to him, if he lay somewhere, bleeding, bones broken, or even worse?

Forgetting about breakfast, Jim makes a decision, grabs some of those damned hypos Bones has lying around just in case, and heads for campus.  
Which is completely deserted.  
Not a single cadet, not a single teacher, no one around for Jim to ask where his friend could have vanished to, everything quiet. Creepy.

Jim makes his way into the main building, looks into every single room, only to find empty chairs and desks.  
What the fuck?

It takes him most of the morning to go through the academy, and he finally slumps down on a bench, feeling defeated, resigned. He rubs his hands over his closed eyes, trying to make sense of this. Where was everyone? Surely, about thousand people didn’t vanished just like that, all at once? And why was he still here?

He should hack into the campus computer, find the records of the last hours. He could do it; the security system wasn’t as hard to crack as Starfleet liked to think.  
Almost ready to dash into the administrators’ office, he feels a hand closing down on his shoulder.  
He startles, jerks around, ready to fight whatever creature just sneaked up on him.

Behind him, a stupid grin on his face, stands Bones.  
“Bones! Fuck, you gave me an heart attack. Where the fuck have you been?”  
Bones grins sheepishly at him, runs a hand through his hair.  
“I got up early to go to the gym, and realized there was no one here, so I started to look for people. I thought I was the only one left.”  
“Yeah, me too. I was looking for you everywhere.”  
“We must have missed each other, then.”

Jim nods, too relieved to see his friend to question him further. Maybe they had walked past each other without noticing it. Not very likely, but possible.  
He tells Bones about his plans, and he agrees to come with him.  
Now that he’s not alone anymore, he feels better, and he takes Bones’ hand in his, not letting go, afraid that Bones will vanish again if he does.

The campus computer is still running, and Jim gets to work, keeping Bones close, making him talk about hospital duty, just to hear his voice, to be sure he’s still with him.  
Jim finds the records of the last few days, scans the data, and pauses. Yesterday’s records stopped exactly at midnight, and there weren’t any new ones for today.

Frowning, he tilts his head, scratches his chin. The records were created automatically, every hour, so why did they stop just like that?  
He turns to tell Bones about his findings.  
He is gone.

Jim jumps from his chair, stumbles out of the room.  
Bones is nowhere to be found, and Jim starts to shake.  
What if he just imagined his best friend to be here? Is he going mad?

He slumps down to the ground, feeling confused, and so very tired. But he doesn’t want to close his eyes, afraid of vanishing, too. He has to stay, has to find out what happened, has to call someone, needs to do something.  
He tilts his head back, lets it rest against the wall. Just a few seconds, to take a breath, to calm down, then he would – he would –  
His eyes flutter close.

“Jim! Jim, wake up!”  
He jerks awake, feeling guilty for falling asleep.  
“Yeah, I’m awake, I was just…”  
It’s then that he takes in his surroundings. He’s in the dorm room, in his bed, wearing only boxer shorts. Light is seeping in through the curtains, and his alarm clock reads 07:30.  
He blinks, confused, as a hand cups his cheek, turning his face to look at the man next to him.

“Are you ok?” Bones asks, and Jim feels a wave of relief wash over him.  
“Yeah. Just had one hell of a nightmare.”  
Bones makes a shushing noise, caresses his cheek. “It’s over now. You're save.”  
Jim just nods as he sits up. Bones drops his hand then, and Jim feels a bit disappointed at that. He doesn’t say anything, though, but gets up. He really needs a shower now.

Turning his back on his friend, he doesn’t see Bones flicker out of existence and back again, like a badly programmed hologram.


End file.
